Attentional shifts by gaze direction in voluntary orienting: evidence from a microsaccade study.

Yokoyama T, Noguchi Y, Kita S - Exp Brain Res (2012)

Bottom Line:
We found that microsaccade direction followed cue direction between 200 and 400 ms after gaze cues were presented.The results in Experiment 2 were consistent with those from Experiment 1.Taken together, these results indicate that the shift in spatial attention elicited by gaze direction is voluntary orienting.

ABSTRACTShifts in spatial attention can be induced by the gaze direction of another. However, it is unclear whether gaze direction influences the allocation of attention by reflexive or voluntary orienting. The present study was designed to examine which type of attentional orienting is elicited by gaze direction. We conducted two experiments to answer this question. In Experiment 1, we used a modified Posner paradigm with gaze cues and measured microsaccades to index the allocation of attention. We found that microsaccade direction followed cue direction between 200 and 400 ms after gaze cues were presented. This is consistent with the latencies observed in other microsaccade studies in which voluntary orienting is manipulated, suggesting that gaze direction elicits voluntary orienting. However, Experiment 1 did not separate voluntary and reflexive orienting directionally, so in Experiment 2, we used an anticue task in which cue direction (direction to allocate attention) was the opposite of gaze direction (direction of gaze in depicted face). The results in Experiment 2 were consistent with those from Experiment 1. Microsaccade direction followed the cue direction, not gaze direction. Taken together, these results indicate that the shift in spatial attention elicited by gaze direction is voluntary orienting.

Mentions:
Figure 3a shows reaction times for the three cue types. A one-factorial repeated-measures ANOVA of the reaction times found a significant main effect of cue type (F2,18 = 24.657, p < 0.001). A post hoc comparison with the Bonferroni correction confirmed a significant difference between the valid and invalid conditions (corrected p < 0.001) and between the neutral and invalid conditions (corrected p < 0.001). These results indicate that cue type facilitated reaction time, and therefore, we can infer effects for the attentional manipulation in Experiment 1.Fig. 3

Mentions:
Figure 3a shows reaction times for the three cue types. A one-factorial repeated-measures ANOVA of the reaction times found a significant main effect of cue type (F2,18 = 24.657, p < 0.001). A post hoc comparison with the Bonferroni correction confirmed a significant difference between the valid and invalid conditions (corrected p < 0.001) and between the neutral and invalid conditions (corrected p < 0.001). These results indicate that cue type facilitated reaction time, and therefore, we can infer effects for the attentional manipulation in Experiment 1.Fig. 3

Bottom Line:
We found that microsaccade direction followed cue direction between 200 and 400 ms after gaze cues were presented.The results in Experiment 2 were consistent with those from Experiment 1.Taken together, these results indicate that the shift in spatial attention elicited by gaze direction is voluntary orienting.

ABSTRACTShifts in spatial attention can be induced by the gaze direction of another. However, it is unclear whether gaze direction influences the allocation of attention by reflexive or voluntary orienting. The present study was designed to examine which type of attentional orienting is elicited by gaze direction. We conducted two experiments to answer this question. In Experiment 1, we used a modified Posner paradigm with gaze cues and measured microsaccades to index the allocation of attention. We found that microsaccade direction followed cue direction between 200 and 400 ms after gaze cues were presented. This is consistent with the latencies observed in other microsaccade studies in which voluntary orienting is manipulated, suggesting that gaze direction elicits voluntary orienting. However, Experiment 1 did not separate voluntary and reflexive orienting directionally, so in Experiment 2, we used an anticue task in which cue direction (direction to allocate attention) was the opposite of gaze direction (direction of gaze in depicted face). The results in Experiment 2 were consistent with those from Experiment 1. Microsaccade direction followed the cue direction, not gaze direction. Taken together, these results indicate that the shift in spatial attention elicited by gaze direction is voluntary orienting.